Thorns
by The Works
Summary: Rose and Scorpius's new romance causes problems with their families. And an even bigger problem when Hogwarts and the Ministry finds that the Death Eaters are planning Voldemort's resurrection...and vengeance. T just because I know it should be ;
1. Prologue  Scorpius Malfoy

**Prologue - _Scorpius Malfoy_**

"Albus, come on!"

"G'bye, Mum!"

"Has anyone seen a toad anywhere?"

"We already left! How are you talking to your mum?"

"That's how you cried for your mum, Sean, I'm mocking _you!_"

I chuckled to myself as I lugged my trunk down the corridor of the train. So many people had so much going on and we had only been on the train for three minutes. I walked past many compartments before finding a few with space, but all of the students glared at me, already knowing my identity. Hogwarts wasn't looking too good to me so far.

All of the compartments I saw were either full or didn't want my company, so I decided to turn my too bloody expensive trunk into a chair and began to read from the Muggle book stash I kept at home _(What was I supposed to do? Sit on the roof of the cars?)_. I easily kept to myself-no one really came out of their compartments-but the lonely feeling I got wasn't helping me to enjoy my book. I sighed _(as Rose now teases me, Malfoys get bored easily)_ and took out my wand, seeing if maybe I could practice some charms I had read about before school.

"Oh, you're practicing magic?" I almost jumped at the girl's voice. I turned to glare at her, but the curiosity on her face made me stammer instead.

"I…well…erm-"

"Well, you shouldn't be practicing out here. Not only because we have room in _our_ compartment," she said, dropping her smile slightly as she added, "but you could definitely endanger some people since you probably can't do it correctly."

"I can definitely cast a charm correctly, _Weasley_," I answered, putting a little more ice into it than I should have, but she just grinned and laughed.

"Then come on, our compartment has enough space for you and your 'correctly cast charms.'" She giggled and took me to her compartment. A boy with ink black hair and glasses looked up from his card and smiled.

"Did you get another chocolate frog for me?" he asked.

"No, Al. I got someone who will play Exploding Snap with you, though." Weasley and I struggled to get my trunk up, but eventually it stays on the shelf.

"Thanks," I said, trying to be polite, knowing exactly where these two came from.

"It was no trouble," the Weasley girl replied, "Oh, I'm Rose."

"Scorpius," I said, sitting next to her.

"Scorpius," the Potter boy said, thinking aloud, "Are you as bad as my dad says you are?"

"Albus!" Rose glared at him.

I laughed as an insult was cultivating in my mind, but shut my mouth immediately (I didn't want to be exiled to the corridor). "So, you have Exploding Snap?" was what I said instead.

"Yeah," Albus answered, smug already, "You wanna play?"

"Ah…I'm not sure if we should play it in this small compartment. But I do have chess." I reached into one of my bags and pulled out my new chess board (it was the latest and most popular make of the time, as Father told me).

"Oh no. _Please_ don't play this," Rose said.

"Why not?" Albus and I both gave her confused looks as we questioned her in unison.

"It takes forever and it's _boring_. I don't know why-"

"Don't listen to her," Albus said, then whispered, "She loves it."

Rose's face went red when she smiled.

Albus and I played, with Rose watching intently, despite her protests on how long the game was taking.

I joined the other first years in the Great Hall, silently hoping to be put into Slytherin House. Someone's arm brush my shoulder and I looked to my right. Albus stared at the Sorting Hat as though it were an Acromantula ready to kill him. I nudged him with my elbow.

"It's not going to bite, Potter." I chuckled _(but as a boy of eleven years, chuckles came out as giggles)_ at my own joke.

"Oh, Scorpius," Albus laughed nervously at my presence, "I'm fine. I just…" his voice trailed off.

"What?"

"I just…I'm…a little nervous, I guess."

"Why?" I didn't get my answer that day, for Headmistress McGonagall began her annual speech saying, "Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it." She quoted the late Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, as she did every year since her appointing to Headmistress.

The sorting then began, with the reading of names done by the Deputy Headmaster and Head of Ravenclaw House, Professor Flitwick. It went by rather quickly, although there were times when certain houses cheered for much too long in my opinion. Finally, my name was called. I sauntered to the stool _(as Rose always describes me doing when I tell the story)_, expecting to be immediately put in Slytherin, as my father had. However, the Sorting Hat just sat there for a minute, humming in thought to itself. I looked up at it as though it had malfunctioned, and it laughed.

"Are you sure? Slytherin for sure? Because you would definitely be a fine asset to Gryffindor House."

Everyone felt the tension as all of the Gryffindor (this, I am sure of) students mentally crossed their fingers for me to be put in Slytherin. I sat there and kept giving it my look of "are you daft?" while he laughed again.

"Well then. Slytherin it is!"

I grinned and silently gave my thanks as I joined the students at the Slytherin table. I listened and waited for Albus's name. I wanted to see if he'd faint, he was looking so nervous.

"Potter, Albus."

I smirked, but I secretly hoped he wouldn't faint and fall off the stool (although I would have laughed a little if he did).

He sat on the stool and I could see his foot tapping in anxiety. The Sorting Hat took longer on him than it did on anyone else I'd seen before.

"Ooh, how _peculiar_. You are definitely a boy who could succeed in more than one house. Makes it difficult to place you, you know." It eyed Albus, making him shrink lower in himself. "Hmmm, you are surprisingly crafty, but your bravery is impeccable, just like your father, I assume…" Then it murmured something to itself, and it seemed only Albus and Professor McGonagall could hear it.

"Slytherin!"

A few Gryffindors began to clap, then sat, and I knew they had assumed a Potter would be sorted into their house, but a tense intake of breath was shared by the whole school. Then silence enveloped the room, heavy with tension worse than mine. I saw Albus, looking more afraid of the students than the sorting itself. He slowly stepped down, but I could tell it was difficult for him to even lift his leg. For some reason I stood _(of course I know the reason now)_ and began to clap for him. Soon others joined me, and then there was an uproar at the Slytherin table. It was an honor to have a Potter in any house, after all. Albus looked over and beamed, now glowing.

I made a kid move and had him sit next to me.

"You looked like you saw a ghost for a second there," I said, smiling. Now I had at least an acquaintance in my house.

He laughed. "Well, I was a little scared at first."

I didn't get to ask him why until we were better friends _(which was almost instantaneous, but it took awhile for him to tell me)_. We watched the other first years's Sorting. Rose was put into Gryffindor House, which was no surprise to anyone, and she grinned (but she also had a look like she knew it all along and could've sorted herself) walking to the Gryffindor table. Albus and I both smiled at her, but she and I gave each other competitive looks when Albus wasn't looking.

The celebration continued with a great feast, and everyone devoured their meals, seeing as the Sorting always cuts into the time and makes everyone starving. Everyone was taken out into the corridors afterwards and Albus was miraculously able to find Rose through all of the chaos _(although I see it's a lot easier now because of her bushy red hair)_. We talked while we could before we were all escorted to our common rooms, but we were able to at least get to know each other a little in that time.

Albus took the top bunk of a bed before I had the chance, laughing triumphantly the whole time, so I settled with the bottom bunk _(which turned out to be the better choice through the years. So take that, Albus!)_, which Albus decided to claim as mine. We talked about our summer, and he laughed when I said I didn't know what a "movie" was, so he tested me with other Muggle items (I learned a "movie" was a Muggle thing moments later).

"What in bloody hell is a 'come-pewderr?'"

Albus doubled over in his bed, and some other boys laughed, too, while others just glared at Albus like he cursed their mothers or something. We kept laughing at different Muggle items, like "televisions" and something called a "DVD." And I actually enjoyed myself, which made me wonder why Father was so keen on me avoiding the Potter and Weasley children.


	2. Ch 1 Scorpius Malfoy

**Chapter One - _Scorpius Malfoy_**

I closed my eyes, content with the lazy day I was finally experiencing (and a day I had been looking forward to) since my O.W.L.S. ended. Albus was opposite me, in front of the coffee table, opening his new wizard chess set he got for Christmas-he had never had time to use it before. I smirked.

"Ready to lose, Al?"

He laughed. "Sure, I'll try so you can feel better about yourself."

I threw one of the pieces at him and grinned when it struck his head.

"Ow!" He chucked a knight at me, hitting me in the jaw. "Ow!"

Rose stepped into the Slytherin common room to find the two of us tackling each other, with Albus's glasses in my hand and poking his forehead with a chess piece. She laughed, which made us both look up (Albus with a small red mark on his forehead from the constant tapping of marble on it), and I knew my grin brightened at the sight of her-not that I would admit it, of course.

"You both are such children," she tried to scold us, but her laughter failed to make her sound serious, "I can't believe you."

"Really? Because this seems exactly like something Scorpius would do."

"Me?"

Rose shook her head and sat in one of the dark chairs, much different than the comfortable armchairs and couches in her own common room.

"So, how are you two?" she asked. "I for one am a little disappointed."

"Why?" I was always one to question Rose's opinions and facts. Arguing with her was a favorite past time of mine.

"I haven't been able to practice in the longest time because of our O.W.L.S. And Gryffindor has a game tomorrow!"

Albus and I knew all too well of the Gryffindor/Slytherin game, the one that would decide who would face Ravenclaw in the battle for the Championship Cup. We both smirked. Although I was in the same academic ranking as Rose, I (and Albus) didn't study near as much as she had for their O.W.L.S. exams, giving us time for our own Quidditch practice with other Slytherin boys on the team.

"I dunno, Scorpius, I think we might be at a disadvantage here," Albus began sarcastically, "We haven't been able to practice either. And I'm the best Chaser in Hogwarts. I think Rose might catch up to me this time."

"Excuse me?" Rose countered. "If I don't recall, I beat you to the punch, or goal, I should say, every single time we played over the Holidays. And I've seen you two try to fly in the rain. Slipping on your own brooms. Ha!" She broke out in laughter as Albus and I remembered those days when we couldn't even grip the quaffle, slipping and falling in the mud every time we tried to throw it.

"At least we practiced, _Weasley_," I retorted, knowing she didn't like it when I called her by her last name, "that gives us almost a guaranteed win. You don't stand a chance."

She grinned sinly, showing a bit of her white teeth. I had to resist licking my lips. "Well, we'll just have to see then, won't we?" she challenged, standing with her things and leaving the common room in a smug manner, her hips swinging the whole time. She left, the common room now in silence. My gaze was still on the door where she was last.

I felt a sharp pang on the back of my head. "Ow!" Albus had flicked me. "What?"

"Quit watching her walk," Albus scolded, "It's disgusting how interested you are in women."

"And you aren't?" I grinned. He walked right into this one, giving me a chance to cover up watching Rose. "I mean, I guess I wouldn't see it as a surprise. You _do_ hang around me a lot-"

"Shut up!" Albus hit me with a pillow from the couch, laughing.


	3. Ch 2 Scorpius Malfoy

**Chapter Two - _Scorpius Malfoy_**

The weather was cold and humid. We could all feel the threat of rain in the dark sky, but the energy of the Slytherin team kept us all somewhat warm against the mist. We stepped onto the field and heard the cheering crowd of Slytherins, and the wind attacked our faces. Some of the prats of our team put the hoods of their robes on, but I refused. I smiled and so did Albus. He laughed when some kids groaned at the next burst of wind and ran out, screaming. Others followed when I did, all screaming and laughing like we were all ten again. Albus tripped on himself and I doubled over before he even hit the ground. I helped him up, and just in time, too. The Gryffindor team just entered the field with an uproar from the Gryffindor side, followed by _boo_s from the Slytherin side. I grinned, which I saw sent a group of fourth year Slytherin girls into a frenzy. I almost laughed out loud.

Albus turned to me, completely serious now, and yet he put an encouraging smile on his face. "You're definitely gonna take this one, Scorp," he said, putting a hand on my shoulder, even though he was an inch or so shorter than me, "James hasn't been having that great of practices. At least not when we were off during the Holidays. I dunno, he's just been…off lately…" his sentence trailed off and he looked away, obviously somewhere else in his mind.

"Al."

"What?" He came out of his own flashback.

"What about me 'taking this one?'"

"Oh, right," he said, "Yeah. You know what? You already know you could take the Snitch with one hand behind your back. I don't need to give you encouragement."

"But I always look forward to it every day, _Alby_." I cried, referring to my joke on his sexuality the night before. He laughed and shook his head.

Madam Hooch blew her whistle, and Albus and Sean Wood shook hands. They were good mates, but vicious competitors when it came to Quidditch. I looked over at James Potter. He'd been the Seeker of the Gryffindor team since third year, just a year later than I had been. I always rubbed it in when we played just to piss him off, but he was also older than me, which gave me a challenge (thank God, or else I'd be bored in the game). He sneered at me and I gave him the "Malfoy smirk" as Father called it. It always pissed Potters and Weasleys off, I'd noticed, not so much anyone else. I could see his ears redden, and I grinned, but then the whistle blew. I shot up into the air, thankful for the new Nimbus Father got me for Christmas. I was almost 100 meters up in a matter of seconds. The cold rush sent adrenaline running through my veins. I scanned the field for a hint of gold anywhere, and found nothing.

A jerk on my broom made me jump. James.

"Aaw, poor Potter-ow!" A hand smacked my arm.

"It's me, you git!" Rose laughed, the quaffle tucked under her arm. She looked so good in red. I bet she'd look even sexier in green. I shook my head to remove myself on the thought. Good thing it started to rain, then it only looked like I was shaking my wet hair out of my face. Some loud voices approached, and Rose looked back, smiling.

"I got to go. Good luck," she yelled before flying off on her Firebolt, followed by three Slytherin Chasers-including Albus, with a competitive grin on his face-and…I squinted to get a better look, then swooped down, chasing after the Snitch. I caught a glimpse of James in my peripheral, and leaned in closer to my broom to accelerate. James caught up to me (though I don't know how) and body checked me, almost knocking me off because of the slickness of the wood from the rain.

"What the hell, Potter?"

He just laughed and pushed ahead of me, so I leaned closer until I was right next to James and shoved my body into his. He was more prepared for my retaliation, but still caught off guard. Then I flew sideways and flipped upside down on my broom, but I could see the Snitch and I leaned into my broom until my nose almost touched the wood. I reached out and caught the wing of it, and it struggled for second before my fingers curled around the gold orb that was the whole Snitch. I grinned right when I made impact with the ground, making a complete somersault until I landed on my back, which knocked the wind out of me. But I was still grinning. I held up the Snitch, and Albus was the first to see it. He cheered, landing on the ground and lifting me up (which I was definitely not ready for; I was still trying to breathe). The rest of the team collided with us, and I lost whatever breath I was about to get back. I was lifted up into the air, which actually helped and I inhaled for the first time since I landed. I couldn't hear anything but screams from me and my teammates, and it was all deafening and incredibly worth it. We were going to face Ravenclaw in the Championships.

The celebration lasted the rest of the day and continued through the night. I had been seen with a Ravenclaw by the name of Lorna Bell, and she now assumes we're in a relationship. Albus finally kissed the Gryffindor girl Maggie Longbottom, whom he's fancied since third year. Good thing, too; I was getting tired of how much he would talk about her in our dorm room, but it was also when I could tease him, which he could never counter because all of my jokes were somewhat true on the subject of Maggie.

"So, _Lorna Bell_, huh?" I turned to see Rose leaning against the wall of the corridor, a smug grin on her face.

"What about it? You're not jealous, are you, Weasley?" I wasn't going to admit that I didn't want Lorna Bell as a girlfriend. Not to Rose.

She chuckled and looked down, clearly amused. "I'm sorry, do you really think that?"

"I was just teasing, Rose, come on. Join the celebration."

"I for one am not feeling too celebratory. Remember? I'm a Gryffindor Chaser. We just lost our chance for the Cup. So, if you don't mind, I'm going back-"

"Wait, Rose." I had taken her arm on impulse. "Just stay for a little while. Besides, it wasn't your fault Gryffindor lost. Did you see James?" I laughed, remembering how desperate he was and yet how unmotivated.

"He did fine! You wouldn't even know why he would be off his game, because of how rude you are to him! So don't even _speak_ about him like that!" She yanked her arm away and stormed down the corridor without looking back. I stepped back into the common room and never stopped wondering what I had done wrong.


End file.
